“IF LIVING excitedly and hurriedly would only enable us to do more, then there would be some compensation, some excuse, for doing so. But the exact reverse is the case.”

That was the opinion of William James, the philosopher, psychologist and physician, in 1899. I wonder what he would say of our 24/7, always-on world, where the concept of turning off is an anachronism?

Many business people today treat stress and overwork as a badge of honour, and will brag about how little they sleep and how few holidays they take. However, as Dr Soojung-Kim Pang shows, it is a mistake to think of rest as nothing more than the absence of work. Rest is work’s partner that, when correctly understood, improves output exponentially, and the quality of our lives commensurately.

It includes a pretty thorough gloss of the book. If you never actually read the book (which would be a shame), but want to know what it says (which would not be a shame), read this review.